Tejada Following Va. Income Tax Bill ‘Intently’

Arlington County Board Chairman Walter Tejada has suggested that he’s open to a discussion about imposing a local income tax and using it to fund transportation projects, the Washington Post reports.

A bill that would allow Arlington and other Virginia localities to impose a 1 percent income tax without a voter referendum passed the Virginia state Senate last week. It’s now under consideration in the House of Delegates, although most tax bills face an uphill battle in the Republican-majority body.

(Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax County and other jurisdictions are currently authorized to impose a 0.25 to 1 percent income tax, but must first have it approved by voters.)

“We’re always trying to find ways to fund transportation projects, and considering we were ranked number one in gridlock, any resources would be helpful,” Tejada said. “We’ve been trying different things, and traffic’s not going anywhere.”

At last month’s meeting, County Board members said Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell’s (R) transportation plan might not raise enough new revenue to meet Northern Virginia’s transportation needs. McDonnell and state lawmakers are currently working to hash out a compromise version of the governor’s proposal.

While I want my streetcar and a massive improvement in the quality of roads, I’m not willing to let my income be taxed further for this. No more homeless shelters. No more Artisphere. No more anything luxury until the County can meet its most basic responsibilities.

Until such time, you will keep your hands out of my wallet.

drax

So you’re willing to let roads and streetcars die on the sword of Artisphere?

Artisphere and homeless shelters are a small part of the budget. You can’t have everything you want. If everyone got to have a perfect budget before they paid taxes, nothing would get done.

Moof

It sounds like these transportation projects Tejeda wants to fund are things that wouldn’t be getting done anyway, and I’m happy for them not to get done if that means I dont have to pay a country income tax. If they want to spend money on stupid things, then they should feel the pain when there’s nothing left for the important things. And I would like the vast majority of Arlingtonians who keep voting for these nimrods to feel the pain too.

Me Too

I’m with this guy! Learn to manage your stinking budget FFS!!!

Get yo’ grubby hands outta my pocket!

drax

What would you cut to pay for transportation improvements? Show some math please.

John Fontain

I’m not “Me Too,” but for my part:

$115 million swimming pool. Artisfail. 90 percent of the salt they wasted on the roads so far. Trolley. Etched glass in conference rooms. Committees to study water bottles. Paying extra to “decontruct” buildings so that the ratty, old materials can be “salvaged”. I could go on and on.

Hee-Haw

but he needs the math ! Nevermind that your list is legitimate…we demand the math, please !

drax

How much would that save in total?

I see only two serious proposals for saving money; the rest are symbolic and pointless.

John Fontain

well, between the pool and the trolley alone we’re talking several hundred million dollars. that alone should cover the road improvements. And I agree with you, let’s start by chopping the big, obvious things and then work our way down the list into the less material, but just as wasteful, items where the County demonstrates it has no respect for taxpayers’ money.

drax

But you can’t just subtract a transportation project to fund transportation. You can argue that the trolley is a bad project, but not that it’s being wasted on something other than transportation.

You can have the pool.

The rest is pointless.

Okay, so you got $115 million and $115 million worth of roads and no pool.

1234

Emphatically agree.

moof

Well, it sounds like these transportation projects Tejada wants to fund are things that wouldnt be getting done anyway. I’m happy to keep it that way if that’s the price of not having a county income tax. Meanwhile, they already spent the money on stupid things, so now they need to feel the pain of that. And so should the vast majority of Arlingtonians, whom we have to thank for voting for these nimrods.

Fuzzy

Amen brother. Stop spending on useless crap before spend more on transportation

novasteve

Gee, maybe if I keep on voting for the name with a (D) after it the same things like increased taxes won’t keep on happening. So liberals can pretend they are in Prague, we get our taxes raised as well as debt taken out in our names. Thanks! keep on doing a swell job arlington voters! Maybe you can ban something in celebration of this great victory for liberalism?

Hank

Out of curiosity, why do you always reference Prague? There are a lot of other cities with streetcars.

Max

Notably, most major western cities outside the US.

drax

And Prague is probably a really awesome city too.

Louise

Ha! LOL, a homeless shelter is a “luxury”. Taxpayer is funny!

Taxpayer

It is at $40 MM+ for a building in which to house those functions in an area of prime real estate. So too are all of the lost taxes that will result from the influx of AHC and Arlington County funded multifamily development.

Look, every sob story is a sad situation in life. However, this individual is not prepared to fund ALL of these other parts of the county until the County can do what it is required. Properly funded and appropriately sized schools. Well maintained roads and infrastructure. Etc.

We all should aspire to help those that are less fortunate. But I only ever do that with my truly excess dollars. But seeing as we have a budget gap, that’s becoming increasingly difficult.

You want to raise revenues, let’s install speed cameras all over the county just like DC and Maryland. Glebe Road, Carlin Springs, Columbia Pike, Lee Highway, etc etc. We should start generating a profit quickly. Then the need for ADDITIONAL income taxes will be lessened.

Then you can have all of your “help me” funding.

Patrick in Courthouse

As a perspective you can build a 4,000-5,000 seat civic arena for that price. (Note, that does not include buying the land.)

I-66

Yet the Board fought the spot improvements on I-66, the hot lanes.

The quote could read “We’ve been opposing different things, and traffic’s not going anywhere.”

The good news is that this bill is going to move through the House as quickly as going from the Dulles Toll Road to Ballston.

novasteve

You can just hear the turds on the board salivating at the prospects to tax more. They live to tax, they live to ban things they don’t approve of.

jackson

Check out who voted yes for the bill in the state senate. More than enough “R”s on the list to spread the blame.

drax

Well, sure, those R’s know taxes need to go up for transportation, but they don’t have the guts to do it, they’d rather let local Dems do their dirty work.

Yangs vs Kohms

Don’t you mean the “Dems” voted to let local Dems do the dirty work? Did you look at the vote?

CourthouseChris

Which are they, fecal material or salivating wild animals? Get your metaphors straight Steve. I won’t stand for this kind of sloppy writing.

JamesE

nonononononono

Louise

I actually agree 100% with the idea of installing speed cameras! That would be a great idea.

novasteve

Yes, nothing like getting a $75-$125 fine for going .1 mph over the limit like in DC. Then you can be like MD and designate every area a permanent work zone to make even more money. Now they even have cameras to make sure you come to a complete stop before turning right on red, and they even have stop sign cameras if you are really desperate for revenues.

dirty biker

Ummm so 1) Stop and 2) Don’t speed…

Scofflaw.

Hee-Haw

wrong again. There’s a threshold for speeding cameras. You will not get a ticket for going 26 in a 25. I got several tickets in DC on MacArthur, where it was 25 and I was going 30-something.

novasteve

@ Hee haw, in DC, you get a ticket for going any amount over the speed limit, though it’s supposed to begin at 1 mph over the limit. Due to the outrage, they lowered the fines a little bit recently.

I am not wrong. They mean from 1-10 mph over the speed limit. If you go 1 mph over the speed limit in DC, you get a ticket, that’s presuming it’s properly calibrated, so most likely you get a ticket for going even slower than 1 mph over the limit.

What is now a $75 ticket for going 10 mph or less over the speed limit will become a $50 ticket Monday, while the current $125 tickets for going 11 to 15 mph will be reduced to $100.

•Fines for speeding 10 miles per hour over the posted speed limit will be lowered to $50 from $75.

Hee-Haw

oh jeez, would you read the 2nd article ?
But for those caught driving between 1 and 10 miles an hour above the limit ($75 fine), she said during the meeting, tickets are rarely sent out to the offender.

novasteve

Just in case you don’t trust the post, here’s from DC’s own website. Now can you admit you are wrong?

Speeding Fines
Following are the fines for speeding in DC, based on the number of miles per hour over the posted speed limit. (Note that automated photo radar tickets do not carry points.) Balance the potential fine for speeding against a few minutes that may be saved—and then don’t speed.

I’m just gonna assume you didn’t go to the “Derek Zoolander Center For Kids Who Can’t Read Good And Wanna Learn To Do Other Stuff Good Too”

Dezlboy

@novasteve, you are corrected. While traffic police enforce speeding even one mile over the limit, as you wrote. Speed cameras provide some lenancy. Per the DC web site, “Radar equipment detects vehicles that are exceeding a threshold speed above the speed limit,”

@ dezl, DC’s “cushion”is 1 mph over the speed limit, and that’s IF the machines are calibrated. I know people who have gotten a speedcam ticket for 26 in a 25. They thought they were going the speed limit. The ticket said 26 in a 25. They got a $75 fine for it. Now the fine is only $50 because people were pissed off about getting a $75 fine for doing 1 mph over the limit.

cyclist

Remember this exchange when someone whines about bikes breaking the law.

IIRC, Speed cameras are illegal in VA

Stop light cameras are not illegal but speed cameras are as far as I know. So this entire thread is generally pointless until a change.

get the bikers!

they should start issuing tickets to cyclists that run red lights and stop signs. if they want vehicle drivers to treat them as if they were another vehicle, they need to obey all of the traffic laws. also motorcycles/scooters that think they can drive to the front of the line at red lights by driving between the 2 lanes of cars. or more people should just start opening their doors when they see them coming.

dirty biker

“or more people should just start opening their doors when they see them coming.”

What hell is wrong with you people…

cyclist

This is exactly why they need to make dooring a criminal offense.

Being stuck in a metal box all day makes you aggressive and self-centered.

Dennis Hopper

Pop question, hot shot. You’re on a 2-lane road approaching a red light. There are seven cars stopped ahead of you waiting for the light to turn green. Do you pass them on the left close to oncoming traffic or the right? WHAT DO YOU DO???

The correct answer, of course, is not to shoot the hostage. The correct answer is that you politely wait your turn behind the seventh car, just like a car would. That’s seven fewer dooring opportunities you would miss.

John Fontain

So the Board could implement a 1% income tax right now as long as they got voter approval? But they haven’t sought that, and instead are watching with interest to see if they will soon be able to implement a 1% income tax without voter approval?

And this is the same Board who regularly touts the ‘Arlington Way’ of seeking input from the constituency on important matters?

Does Tejada have any self-awareness to realize how sneaky and slimy this makes him look? A matter this important should be put to the voters.

BBMS

The extra tax has been sought before. The voters rejected it in 2001.

DCBuff

By the same logic used for ending debate concerning the trolley, then this issue has been discussed and shouldn’t come up again.

John Fontain

+100.

BBMS

I don’t know, I kind of disagree with that. Nothing wrong with putting it up for vote again. I think the core logic behind the streetcar question is that it has never been put to vote.

But that’s a moot point. The reason this bill came about is to bypass the referendum part.

Arlington’s position on this is probably unique. They took over maintenance for most of the roads from the state. I think only Henrico shares that same situation. The state reimburses Arlington for their share of maintenance funds, rather than having to budget them by formula into VDOT. I don’t know what that means in regards to this tax. It might mean less reimbursement coming back from the state if Arlington is raising money via the tax. They certainly have a different point of view on this from the surrounding counties, who have all come out strongly against this idea.

DCBuff

No, it is not a moot point. The trolley promoters, who apparently abhor the idea of a popular vote on the most significant capital improvment expenditure to come before the county in ages, if ever, have made it clear that “debate” is over based on community input from years ago. Community input is also found in a popular vote such as the one to which you refer. The county’s road maintenance takeover, in part, is in order to control the development of the trolley. The “different point of view” of the ArlCo board from neighboring jurisdictions is hardly limited to this tax; time and again, other jurisdictions have refrained from additional expenditures and taxes while ArlCo has not (see recent raises for top county employees).

drax

Um, logic fail. It’s slimy because he is waiting to see if he can put this to the voters? Try again.

John Fontain

Huh?

Deadite

Reading comprehension fail. You got it backwards. If this bill passes, the board can bypass a voter referendum on a tax increase.

SouthPikeGuy

Duh, read.

Homeowner

As stated in the article, they already have the authority. If it’s such a good idea, then put it in front of the voters and let’s see if we agree.

DCBuff

Of course he is following this “intently”–because it would be yet another way to impose taxes without directly facing the voters. The ArlCo board already has the authority–“Arlington…and other jurisdictions are currently authorized to impose a 0.25 to 1 percent income tax, but must first have it approved by voters”–so if you want the cash Walter, ask the voters.

Becoming Indifferent

Dammit, this isn’t Maryland!

BBMS

I think Tejada actually had a very cogent moment there and the rest of the board should take note. Arlington has been trying many, many things to enhance and improve transportation through Arlington (aside from some very big items that they have opposed).

But traffic is not going anywhere. As more and more residential units are getting built, it increases the burden on all of the modes of transportation. No matter how dense, how walkable, how close to transit these new developments are, they still add cars to the roads.

callie

No, Tejada is being Tejada. This bill is wrong on so many levels, especially bypassing a voter referendum. People’s Republic of Arlington unless the people actually want to give input. Then it’s “we know what’s best – an you get to pay it.”

arlingtony

A luxury tax on sales of Froyo sounds much more rational.

ACDC Hack

The county has plenty of money…..they just don’t spend it wisely.

John Fontain

You mean like spending thousands to etch the glass on a couple of County conference room windows to achieve ‘meeting room privacy’ instead of simply buying a roll of frosted window film?

John Fontain

Or like spending more than it costs to build a luxury single family house to build a single ‘super bus stop’ on Columbia Pike?

Deadite

I dunno guys, I think spending $80 million on a swimming pool is totally legitimate.

NoVapologist

Don’t forget the cost of a 15 member committee to investigate plastic water bottles.

drax

So what exactly would you cut and how much would it save? Go ahead, write your own ideal budget.

Jay the Caped Crusader

Any monies that go to a crusade are all right by me!

JamesE

This new tax will fund a $400 million dog amusement park in Clarendon, purse dogs only.

Hee-Haw

@d-r-a-x, how bout starting with the $80 million pool…that would save around…$80 million.

Fuzzy

Don’t forget the expected $2M per year we’re expected to lose each year on our water park.

KRS

If you give the Arlington board the option to raise taxes 1% without a referendum, I’d set the over/under on time it takes for them to enact a 1% increase at about 1/4 of a second. That’s the Arlington Way.

Deadite

I don’t see this passing in the House of Delegates, thank god.

PotholeDodger

Seems like all the new construction is bringing in new taxpayers (commercial & residential). Shouldn’t some of those tax revenues be put this use?

R. Griffon

Absolutely not. If you’re going to pass an income tax, then repeal the personal property tax in it’s entirety. Pick one or the other – you can’t have both.

Oh, and maybe figure out how to prioritize your spending and balance your budget while you’re at it.

novasteve

I can see the transients who live in Arlington would hate that, becausce they don’t register their cars and avoid the personal property tax, and would have to pay the income tax.

Taxpayer

Those people are the worst. The ACPD should have MORE sting operations to round up our ‘transient’ population for being tax cheats. Another use of speed cameras.

Greg

I’m livid. Arlington County is one of the wealthiest counties in the entire United States with some of the highest valued property. They collect close to 1% of residential real estate values every year, a good-sized car tax up to 5% of value, large commercial real estate taxes, a sales tax that makes Arlington’s sales tax one of the highest in the country, money from the state, money from the federal government, parking tickets and fines that probably total $10 million.

Instead of spending wisely, they spend their money on an $80 million pool, even more on a streetcar, and claim they need more money to fund transportation they’ve already voted against. And, they will continue to ignore the school overcrowding issue, until justifying their next tax increase.

This is what happens when you vote for the same people year after year. If they increase income tax by 1% without reducing property taxes or something else, I’m moving. Such bulls–t.

novasteve

Problem here in ARlington is that the democrats haven’t run out of other people’s money yet.

novasteve

PS, it will be worth it when you can pretend you are in prague when riding the trolley to the swimming pool and show how european you are by wearing speedos.

Paul

Yeah, this Arlington taxpayer would vigorously oppose a local income tax, without offsetting cuts in property taxes. But, that probably would never happen because the transportation funding would come *on top of* the outlays the County is already committed to.

BBMS

Not likely. The Transportation Capital Fund, which Arlington uses to fund projects, is stocked by an additional levy against commercial property values. That fund seems to be the where the offset would occur if new funds were acquired via the local personal income tax.

Given that commercial property assessments declined over the past year, that may be why the county would look to other sources for the money. They have already maxed out the tax rate for transportation on commercial property to what the state will allow. Would be curious to know what the Chamber of Commerce’s position on this is, and the development community.

BBMS

And in case anyone is curious, just doing some rough back of the napkin figuring, to entirely offset the current Transportation Capital Fund revenue via income tax, the rate adjustment would only need to be about 0.1%. According to the bill, the increments can only be 1/4% up to 1%. So if Arlington adopted the minimum tax it would be 0.25%, and that would bring in way more revenue than what they already are budgeting for the Fund.

I don’t see this happening here.

Rory

“good-sized car tax up to 5% of value”

Is it that higih???? Mine is much, much lower than 5%

Paul

Arlington’s personal property tax on motor vehicles is 5% of assessed value. Under the rebate scheme (a/k/a Jim Gilmore’s “no car tax” promise) the first $3,000 of value is rebated in full, between $3,001 and $20k, there is a 30% rebate. Above $20k you pay the full nut.

Rory

Interesting. My car is 12 years old, I only had to pay 30 bucks or so. Guess my car is worth like 5k or so.

Greg

It’s 5%, but there is relief up to certain values. If you have a $50,000 car, you’re going to pay about 4%.

Autoexec.bat

If your car is worth more than $20,000 per Kelley Blue Book, then you’re taxed at a much higher rate. Everyone pays 2% on the first $20,000 of value and 6% for everything over $20,000, at least per my recollection.

Autoexec.bat

Nevermind. Others commented more quickly and more correctly about how it’s calculated.

novasteve

Don’t forget the $33 sticker fee.

Paul

If you car is assessed $20k, you’d pay $850 (5% of $17k), less the 30% rebate. Total $595, plus the $33 “decal fee” naturally.

spaghetti

As much as I hate the idea of an additional tax on income, I like that the money would stay in Arlington (or FFX or Alexandria) and not be sent off to fund frivolous transportation projects down in red-neck VA like Bob McDonnel’s Road for Nobody:

“We’ve been trying different things, and traffic’s not going anywhere.”

That’s right, nothing works. No more taxes! Quit wasting money.

TMP

How sad is it that some people would clamor for things like speed cameras. “1984” used to be science fiction, now people want the government watching them more than they already are. “He who would trade liberty for some temporary security, deserves neither liberty nor security.”

novasteve

That’s peanuts TMP. We also have CCTVs increasing, some places have them everywhere. The government is tell is what we can eat, what light bulbs we can use, etc. Bigger and bigger nanny state every day, but since people are increasingly becoming non thinking drones who think complete strangers who don’t know they exist knows what’s best for them, it’s only going to get worse. Add in moral busy do gooders in government, and welcome to the future, where every aspect of your life is controlled by the government except the liberal sacraments.

novasteve

In addition, CaBi is seriously considering not entering Maryland, becaucse the nanny staters are seriously considering a bicycle helmet law for adults, which would destroy bike sharing as there are no disposable helmets, nor to spontaneous people carry bike helmets around with them.

Dezlboy

@novasteve, you wrote, ” CaBi is seriously considering not entering Maryland, becaucse …[due to possible] bicycle helmet law for adults”

Please state your source. I “googled” and found nothing of the sort.

drax

What an absurd post. 1984 involved cameras in private homes and stuff. Anyone can see you in public now, including the police. How’s a camera different from a cop sitting on the corner with a radar gun?

If you think going out in public and getting your picture taken = 1984, you need to read 1984 again, if you ever have.

novasteve

Drax, f unny how in MD its’s legal to film you so they can make money off you, but you get thrown in prison for filming someone else without their permission in the same public place.

Douglas Parker

How’s a camera different from a cop sitting on the corner with a radar gun?

Well for one, there is not a cop sitting on the corner with a radar gun.

novasteve

Also a cop with a radar gun can be called as a witness to court unlike a camera.

John Wells

Who needs the Sixth Amendment anyway? Or the privacy protections of the Fourth Amendment? I’m amazed at how willing some folks are to toss away their freedoms, expecting and receiving nothing in return.

A Real Attorney

Is this comment based on the experience of being in court defending people or is this just random commentary?

drax

How does the sixth amendment apply to a camera in a public place?

Hee-Haw

have you ever read it ? Maybe you need to again. It wasn’t just about cameras in private homes. It was about being watched and controlled by a government. His comment isn’t really that absurd when you consider the amount of cameras out there that have the capability of watching you at all times.

Great, do you think we can get our 16Y stops back in Alcova Heights and Douglas Park (Columbia Pike at Oakland and Monroe).

Plebeians for the Plebiscite

The Board really hates referendums because it lets all those pesky commoners make a decision for themselves. The Board prefers to have a couple of former collegiate swimmers concoct a way to spend $80 million of other people’s money.

southie

How shocking that Favola and Ebbin voted for a new tax. Here’s hoping that this never sees the light of day in the House of Delegates.

BBMS

Well it addresses a point of contention that NOVA has had with Richmond for years. That being, the complaint that the NOVA does not see a proportionate amount of revenue come back from Richmond for transportation.

This particular bill may not be exactly the best solution, but it does give NOVA some independence in acquiring transportation money.

DCBuff

How does this proposed taxing authority “address a point of contention” between Northern Virginia and the Commonwealth? It would not change one bit the proportionate amount of revenue coming back from Richmond for transportation. May not be the “best solution?” This is no solution at all, which is why, despite the authority to impose such a tax if voters will it, it has never happened. That “independence” you think will occur? More likely that the legislature, seeing that No. Virginia jurisdictions (likely only ArlCo) have more tax dollars, will cut what they send back here. Some solution that.

BBMS

I’m working on the assumption that the need to increase transportation funding through some mechanism is a given. So when I say it might be one solution, it is meant that we should not expect a large revenue adjustment to be made in Richmond, and this bill would give NOVA jurisdictions some autonomy in creating their own extra revenue.

John Wells

The only way this bill could possibly address the proportionality problem is if every percentage point of income tax levied on an individual by the locality resulted in a commensurate offset in the state income tax obligation for that individual.

Instead, this bill would make the proportionality problem worse, for the same reason schools like UVA get shafted in state funding more and more each year as a reward for being good fundraisers: the GA says “they don’t need Richmond money, they’ve got their own sources of income.”

Wayne Kubicki

Sen. Howell voted in favor as well.

Only Senate Dem who voted no was Chap Petersen.

Taxpayer

Speed Cameras in certain areas would be great. Carlin Springs road. Where posters following the pedestrian fatality called it at 40 MPH zone. It could catch them. It would also catch the large proportion of drivers who weave in and out around school buses and school children.

Breaking the law is breaking the law. While I love my rights and freedoms, I’ll give this one up in the name of revenue and reminding people more frequently of the lessons the DMV and Driver’s Ed ever failed to bestow upon them before giving them the right to operate heavy machinery as frivolously as a golf cart.

Just Sayin’

You’ll give your rights and freedoms up in the name of revenue? You live in the right place.

It’s a shame that, as a voter, you have the power to give up all of our rights and freedoms in the name of revenue as well.

drax

You have no right not to be photographed breaking the law in a public place.

NVA

Agree with most of the comments I have seen: cut fatty spending on things we don’t need like acquatic

Jim

Telling that Tejada and the other clowns on the county board don’t want to have to get voter approval of these things.

Fuzzy

I can’t even imagine what the board is going to do to our property taxes when this area feels the full effects of sequestration, federal furloughs, defense contractor cuts, and other federal budget cuts. Arlington is going to take a hit, but the board keeps spending like the good times will continue indefinitely.

soarlslacker

Hell No! We know how to find Montgomary Cty MD and if wanted to get as screwed as we could in taxes we would move there. Who does this board listen to, not the citizens! Put the darn trolley on the ballot and let the voters decide.

drax

Don’t like what the board does? Elections are coming up.

Plebeians for the Plebiscite

Fuzzy put it best. The war on terror is over and the money it showered on this area is going bye-bye. And I’m tired of the Board turning the community into a giant shopping mall on the basis that it needs to remain “competitive” with the other shopping mall communities in Fairfax, Tyson’s, and Mont. Co. Why? So the Board gets more residents, businesses, and tax money to spend? Is that really the point? Rah-rah we’re number 1? Is that progress?

Chris L.

The current Arlington County Board and supporting political establishment can smell taxpayers dollars faster than a wolf can smell a weakened fawn. Streetcars, Artispheres, luxurious aquatic centers, and even more streetcar-type projects for “transportation” to the Artispheres and the “aquatic centers.” Better hold on to your wallets folks; better yet, let’s find some taxpayer-friendly candidates and VOTE!